John Shiklam in Kaduna
The Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology (NITT) has disclosed that it is complementing the effort of the federal government in exiting the petrol subsidy regime through the provision of alternative energy source to the transportation sector.
The Director General of NITT, Dr. Bayero Farah disclosed the plan yesterday when the Minister of State for Transport, Alhaji Muazu Sambo visited the institute.
According to him, NITT is currently in talks with the National Gas Expansion Programme Committee aimed at providing the technical manpower for engineering the process of converting fossil fuel driven vehicles in Nigeria to using either Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) or Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).
The director-general said the institute “is also championing the call for local production of conversion kits in this regard.”
Farah said NITT had established a Databank for the collection, collation and analysis of all economic and technological data relating to all aspect of transportation in Nigeria.
Farah said: “In order to fulfill its mandate, the institute is building an Intelligent Transport System (ITS) Centre to be equipped with state-of-the-art equipment.
“At the moment the databank project has commenced with the installation of equipment in some major highways namely; Abuja-Lokoja, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and Kaduna-Zaria Highway”, Farah disclosed.
He said, traffic data generated by this equipment would be transmitted in real time to the Data Centre in Zaria.
NITT’s helmsman said data from transport organisations are also being collated and inputted into the Databank System in the institute.
He explained that since 2020 to date, NITT had been pursuing a strategic project that when realised would contribute positive to improving safety on Nigerian roads.
“Supported by the federal government, NITT is constructing Driver Development and Training Centres in each of the six geopolitical zones in the country. Work on three of these projects have started and is progressing steadily.”
He however, lamented that that the institute “is faced with some challenges namely, budgetary constraints and the need to strengthen the institute’s legal instruments in order to keep pace with the current realities in the industry.
“In view of the enormous tasks before the institute and in order to fully deliver our mandate to the transport sector and the Nigerian economy, we are appealing to the Honourable Minister to kindly assist the Institute with alternative and more reliable source of funding.
“Also, the institute is currently facing shortage of land at its headquarters in Zaria. The 27-hectare land space currently housing the institute is used up, thus making it challenging for expansion”, he said.
